The history and practice of Industrial Design in Victoria Australia is my research interest and this blog include posts related to this interest as well as my practice as a designer and design educator.

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Saturday, 31 October 2015

‘Memory Containers’ was the project theme set by Alessi for two hundred invited international designers and artisans in 1990. Following the success of her show in Tokyo that year, Susan Cohn, a gold and silversmith from Melbourne, was invited to participate.

Inspired by early Australian colonial meat safes constructed from timber with perforated metal panels, Cohn designed a large diameter twin layer fruit bowl.

In each unique Cohncave bowl the two perforated layers are offset to produce a moiré pattern. Cohn’s concept for a mass produced artisan piece saw the Cohncave short listed to a final group of nine designs.

All short listed designers submitted sketches – except for Cohn – who presented an exquisite prototype still prized by Alberto Alessi. The Cohncave was released in 1992 and Cohn would become the first of many Melbourne designers to work with Alessi.

Tuesday, 27 October 2015

Melbourne Movement founder Professor Kjell Grant was delighted to catch up with Jim Hannon-Tan during his recent visit to Melbourne.

In 2001 after seeing the clamp leg table Kjell selected Jim to join Melbourne Movement and invited him to exhibit at Salone Satellite in Milan. Jim bought a one way ticket to Milan that year and this week was one of his rare return visits to Melbourne.

Thursday, 15 October 2015

Celebrating the links between Melbourne designers and his family company Alessi S.P.A. CEO and President Alberto Alessi will share a lifetime of design at a public lecture in Melbourne on Thursday November 5th at Deakin Edge.

Designer Jim Hannon-Tan visited Melbourne this week and returned to RMIT Univeristy where he studied industrial design. Professor Kjell Grant invited Jim in 2001 to exhibit his clamp leg table with Melbourne Movement at Salone Satellite in Milan. Jim bought a one way ticket and began his international career after Salone Satellite in Milan.

Dr Scott Mayson gave Jim a tour of the Design Hub and shared the 3D printed furniture designs of Ryan Pennings.

Jim will present a public lecture on Thursday October 22nd featuring work for brands such as Tom Dixon, Marcel Wanders, Moooi, Magis and Alessi. He will share the journey from the Clamp Leg Chair through to the latest designs for Tom Dixon.

Face IT was the title of the tool for international collaboration developed during the Beijing Design Week event with team mates Robert Carosi and Hester Berndsen. The team wins a trip to Sydney and a place in the 2016 CAMP IDEA FACTORY in June 2016. (see details below).

Five industrial design students from Suzhou travelled to Beijing to join CAMP IDEAS FACTORY.

Roro recently completed her studies in the Master of Industrial Design program at the Southeast Univerisity-Monash Univeristy Joint Graduate School (Suzhou). Rib seat was the title of her project that proposed an innovative personal restraint system for improved safety in automous vehicles. The Master of Industrial Design program in Suzhou is now in it's third year with graduates gaining employment within companies including Alibaba, Seimens, Huawei and Ford.

Master of Industrial design student Roro Zhang explains her concept for a smart seat belt to Monash University Vice Chancellor and President Margaret Gardner at the Southeast Univerisity-Monash Univerisity Joint Graduate School (Suzhou).

The CAMP IDEAS FACTORY hackathon was a feature event in the AUSTRALIA@BJDW program for Beijing Design Week 2015.

We are looking for the brightest minds aged 18-35 years old to collaborate at CAMP IDEA FACTORY , the premier China-Australia hackathon at BJDW. Your mission is to join us at BJDW and within a team, collaborate and design a new approach to building international collaborations. The winning team will win a scholarship place within CAMP 2016 and be flown to Sydney to participate (including return flights, accommodation and CAMP 2016 registration fee). We invite the cultural, creative, entrepreneurial and innovation/maker community to the CAMP IDEA FACTORY as well as invite other Beijing-based entrepreneurs and innovators with an interest in international or Australian collaboration and markets to participate or mentor a team. Each year in Sydney, Australia, the China Australia Millennial Project unites over 130 highly-talented emerging leaders from China and Australia from all disciplines for a 10 week innovation incubator (9 weeks online and 5 days in Sydney) to co-create new business and social approaches to some of the world’s largest challenges. We build real relationships for awesome global positive impact, skill building and we have a lot of fun while we do it. Join us!

Monday, 5 October 2015

The publishing online of files for a 3D printed gun in May 2013 not only challenged security services the world over it also caught the attention of MOMA Senior Curator of Design Paola Antonelli. At first Design and Violence was proposed to MOMA as an exhibition but somewhat akin to the open source ideas behind the 3D printed gun 'Design and Violence' has developed online through contributions and debates across the internet. #desviolenz

Museum of Modern Art Senior Curator of Design Paola Antonelli presents the Design and Violence public lecture at the National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne Australia.

The lecture topic at first might inspire those of us interested in design history in Melbourne to look at our history with military weapons. The work perhaps of a young architectural modeller from Carlton, Lance Corporal William Charles Scurry who invented the Drip (or 'pop off') rifles used to save thousands of ANZAC's at Gallipoli, or the work of Louis Brennan who invented the steerable torpedo in 1874. However Antonelli's powerful lecture inspired a more forward looking perspective, so instead, I left seeking to explore the open source ideas of colleagues Mark Richardson and Matthew Bird in their recent upcycling project Hydonaut at Monash University.

Antonelli was refreshing in her candid views on "design thinking' and how the sales of "post it" notes are up. The audience came alive with Antonelli's insights into the debate and controversy surrounding SPUTNIKO's menstruation machine.

Museum of Modern Art Senior Curator of Design Paola Antonelli presents the Design and Violence public lecture at the National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne Australia.

Mutant Material in Contemporary Design also got a mention. This was Antonelli's first exhibition at MOMA in 1995 and featured the work of Melbourne designers Christopher Connell, Celina Clarke and Simon Christopher.

Madam Ruby - ISM Objects. Designed by Celina Clarke and Simon Christopher featured in Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design curated by Paola Antonelli Senior Curator MONA Museum of Modern Art New York.

It is indeed a fact that in this era of open source and 'Ted' Lectures, yesterday at 5pm I could have lazed in the beautiful sunshine on the banks of the Yarra river……. but I am so glad I didn't.

Design and Violence - Paola Antonelli Senior Curator of Design at the Museum of Modern Art MOMA New York.

Friday, 2 October 2015

A visit to the Finders Keepers Market tonight was a chance to catch up with industrial designer Ben Landau and Lucile from the La Petite Fabrique de Brunswick stall. Ben was a student at RMIT industrial design in my upperpool studio 72%WATER back in 2007 and went on to study a Masters degree in Eindhoven. Ben and Lucile formed the studio Alterfact based in Melbourne in 2014.

About Me

Ian Wong is an industrial designer with over twenty five years of professional practice experience. Ian is Program Director - Master of Industrial Design at MADA Monash University. This double masters degree is delivered at the SouthEast University Monash University Joint Graduate School (Suzhou) in China. Ian has worked previously as design manager for Outerspace Design and Silvan Australia, and lectured also at RMIT and Swinburne Universities. Ian is a councilor of the Design Institute of Australia and President of Melbourne Movement.